WP: White House video blog offers an inside view

[Pirate Smile]

White House video blog offers an inside view

By Paul Farhi
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, May 15, 2010

You didn't see this on CNN or Fox News or NBC: President Obama awkwardly introducing Chile's president, Sebastián Piñera, to the Netherlands' prime minister, Jan Peter Balkenende, at the recent nuclear security summit. "You know, uh, you've met Jan?" the president says tentatively as the other world leaders stand aside like shy kids at a dance.
Or this: Obama, playfully doing his best impression of Muhammad Ali, throwing mock punches into the midsection of a costumed Easter Bunny following the White House Easter Egg Roll.

You didn't see it on the networks because the behind-the-scenes video was only available on "West Wing Week," the Obama administration's new video blog. The six- to seven-minute compilations, which appear each week on the White House's Web site (http://www.whitehouse.gov) and on such video-sharing sites as YouTube, offer what a narrator on each segment calls "your guide to everything that's happening at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue."
Well, not everything, of course. But "West Wing Week" is effectively the White House's video vision of itself and its chief occupant, as it would like to be seen, unfiltered by journalists.

-snip-
The videos, created by official White House videographer Arun S. Chaudhary, also provide a few things the White House press corps doesn't get to see. As he fills out his census form in the Oval Office, for instance, Obama lists his age (48) and mutters that he's "an old man." Moments before a news conference, he and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton laugh over a photograph of press secretary Robert Gibbs. At another juncture, the camera sweeps into the White House kitchen, where chefs are busy preparing the executive mansion's official Passover Seder. Another sequence captures the president warming up before throwing out the first pitch at Nationals Park on opening day.

-snip-
"West Wing Week" is in the same tradition, Lee says: "I think this is all about bypassing the capital press corps."
Some of the footage is too trivial for news organizations to covet, and some comes from widely documented public events, like speeches. But the package also includes moments that journalists would have loved to have had access to.

-snip-
The White House wouldn't make Chaudhary, the videographer, available for an interview. But in a statement issued through Shapiro, he said the videos are "written, produced and edited by me." Chaudhary, a former film professor at New York University who extensively documented Obama's presidential campaign, added: "As the official White House videographer it's my job to document the president's activities, in motion pictures, for history. Though not as extensive as the still picture record of the president's routine, I found that every week I had a lot of interesting clips that couldn't really stand on their own but did when collected together and shown in context of the president's schedule. West Wing Week is essentially the vehicle for these moments. It's almost as if our flickr site could talk."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/14/AR2010051401316.html?hpid=topnews

West Wing Week: "Hang on to Your Hats"

Posted by Arun Chaudhary on May 14, 2010 at 06:00 AM EDT

Thanks for checking out the West Wing Week, your guide to everything that's happening at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. This week, walk step by step with the President as he speaks to the nation about job numbers, monitors the oil leak in the gulf of Mexico, says goodbye to the spring interns, gives the commencement address at Hampton University, swears in his Intelligence Advisory Board, welcomes the President of Afghanistan, congratulates PM David Cameron, visits Buffalo NY and much more.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/05/12/west-wing-week-hang-your-hats

Raw Footage: President Obama and the Hovercraft
May 13, 2010 | 1:48

President Obama convinces New York Times reporter Sheryl Stolberg to demo a small hovercraft at Industrial Support Inc., a manufacturing service company in Buffalo, NY.

Public Domain
http://www.whitehouse.gov/photos-and-video/video/raw-footage-president-obama-and-hovercraft

West Wing Week: " X , Y , Z "
May 06, 2010 | 6:05


Thanks for checking out the West Wing Week, your guide to everything that's happening at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. This week, walk step-by-step with the President as he monitors and then visits areas affected by the BP Oil Rig incident, delivers a commencement address at University of Michigan, attends the White House Correspondents Dinner, presents the Commander-in-Chief trophy to the Navy Midshipman, ushers in Cinco de Mayo and much more.

Public Domain
http://www.whitehouse.gov/photos-and-video/video/west-wing-week-x-y-z

West Wing Week: "Doing the Math"
April 29, 2010 | 6:08


Thanks for checking out the West Wing Week, your guide to everything that's happening at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. This week, walk step-by-step with the President as he attends a naturalization ceremony for some members of the Armed Forces, delivers a eulogy for West Virginia miners, welcomes the World Series Champion New York Yankees, travels to the Midwest as part of his White House to Main Street tour, and much more.

Public Domain
http://www.whitehouse.gov/photos-and-video/video/west-wing-week-doing-math

West Wing Week - "Competing the Old-Fashioned Way"
April 22, 2010 | 5:24


Thanks so much for checking out the West Wing Week, your guide to all things 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. This installment takes you step-by-step with the President as he hosts the Great Outdoors Conference, holds a meeting of the President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board, meets with his Special Envoy to the Sudan, discusses Supreme Court nominations with congressional leadership, travels to New York City to talk Wall Street Reform, and celebrates the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day in the White House Rose Garden.
We also pulled out a clip from a Martin Luther King Jr. Day discussion that President Obama held in the Roosevelt Room. One of those present was Dr. Dorothy Height who passed away last week at the age of 98, a hero of the civil rights movement and an inspiration to all Americans.

Public Domain
http://www.whitehouse.gov/photos-and-video/video/west-wing-week-competing-old-fashioned-way

More:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/photos-and-video/video/west-wing-week-april-9
http://www.whitehouse.gov/photos-and-video/video/west-wing-week-1

[babylonsister]

1. Thank you for this fun insight into the President. Rec'd. nt

[Clio the Leo]

2. I love, love, LOVE "West Wing Week." NT

[NYC_SKP]

3. Recommended!

Thanks for posting, Pirate Smile!

:thumbsup:

[Pirate Smile]

4. kick

[Tarheel_Dem]

5. K&R. Thanks for posting. (nt)

[asphalt.jungle]

6. here is the missing one from your links

Your West Wing Week - "The Interpreter's Lounge"
http://www.whitehouse.gov/photos-and-video/video/your-west-wing-week

[Pirate Smile]

9. Thanks! I was doing it late Friday night while lying in bed. I wasn't sure if I caught them all

but I was falling asleep and wanted to get it posted first.

:hi:

[Cha]

7. Thanks for all these links..

Pirate Smile:)

[Cha]

8. My son just sent me some pics

of the President & President and his family from Facebook.:)